Fairer Scotland Fund Board Note of meeting held on 10.10.13 Present: Cllr Barney Crocket Cllr Jim Noble Cllr Yvonne Allan Arthur Forbes Acky Stewart Fay Morrison Jody Reid Moyra Mair Nick Bruce Sylvia Davidson Jackie Burns Andy Verreydt ACC ACC ACC Aberdeen Civic Forum Regeneration Matters Regeneration Matters Regeneration Matters Regeneration Matters Regeneration Matters Regeneration Matters Regeneration Matters Police Scotland Agenda item Notes In attendance: Dave Kilgour Susan Thoms Aberdeen City Council Aberdeen City Council Action 1. Apologies Cllr Gordon Graham Aileen Davidson Adrian Watson Linda Smith Joyce Duncan Anne Knight ACC Regeneration Matters Police Scotland NHS Grampian ACVO Aberdeen City Council 2. Note of meeting 17.6.13 Agreed. 3. Matters arising Item 5. Yvonne Allan expressed her disappointment at the lack of support that the Board had shown to the new group involved with the Old Torry Outdoor Centre. An option was for the group to reapply, but this was voted against. Item 4. Arts R Us. Fay explained that she is no longer involved in this group and it is not being taken forward. There are other arts activities available so it is no longer required. Item 5. The section on criminal activities should read ‘reduction in’ rather than ‘improvement’. 4. Financial update and The current unallocated funding for 13-14 is £31,957 and the Board needs to agree how to allocate this. 5. 12-13 underspend The underspend from 2012-13 was £96,749 and the Community Planning Partnership has requested that this be reallocated. A report will go to the Council on 31st October, and if agreed the Board will need to consider what it should be spent on. The report to Community Planning Aberdeen (CPA) had recommended that the funding that had been awarded to Job Parents during 2012-13, on the basis that it would be repaid to Fairer Scotland Fund, would be used to continue funding the Job Parents for the remainder of the year. This has been approved by CPA. There was some concern that having an underspend in the previous year might affect future FSF allocations. Cllr Crockett confirmed he did not anticipate there being any change due to the underspend. It was suggested that there were projects that are underway at the moment in regeneration areas which the funding could support. It was also suggested that applications which had been rejected could be relooked at and Torry Outdoor Sports Centre could be asked to reapply. It was acknowledged that there were only 5 months left to spend the money so capital projects would be more appropriate, to allow spend in the time available with no financial implications for next year. Welfare reform is a big issue, it was suggested the funding could be used to address these. Dave Kilgour suggested that part of the response to welfare reform could include a suggestion from St Machar Credit Union to provide school children with £10 in a credit union account, to prevent future debt/high cost loan issues. There could be an education programme built around this. For the 3 schools in the regeneration areas this would cost around £15,000 for all pupils, then the 1st year pupils could receive the same every year. It was felt that this was a good idea and something that would have a long term ongoing effect. The cost would be approximately £19,000 and this was agreed in principle. Dave will produce a report on this, including the educational programme. DK The issue of food poverty and the increase in demand for food parcels was also raised. While it was agreed that additional support was needed for cooking and budgeting, the reality is that children are going to bed hungry at night. The white goods shop in Torry, run by NESCU, has recently closed, if this was a funding issue then they might want some support to cover rental costs. The shop was part of the Retail Rocks initiative in Torry, which would have provided rent free premises for a year. It was agreed there was a need to look at both figures, the funding remaining for this year, and the underspend from last year, if this is available, and to consider capital projects and non recurring spend. It was agreed to meet again after the Council has made its decision, to look at other ideas. 6. Conflict of Interest disclosure form Susan had developed a Conflict of Interest form, and guidance on how to complete it. The draft was agreed and this will be circulated to all Board members to complete. 7. Annual Report The Annual Report is complete and once agreed by the Board it will be printed in colour for distribution. The report involves a lot of work for the Support Team and the funded projects that provide the information for it in their monitoring reports. It was agreed that this was a very good piece of work that reflects the achievements of the FSF and funded initiatives. Susan and Anne were congratulated on producing the report. Cllr Crockett had attended the shmuTrain Graduation ceremony and felt it was a very moving event that really shows what the project achieves for the young people involved. 8. AOCB Jody and Moyra will visit the Police Scotland Campaign Against Violence initiative, which is a whole systems approach to recovery, with various agencies involved. Community Learning and Development are carrying out consultation. No formal invites have been sent out yet. Some members of the Board would like to attend. 9. Date of next meeting: 7th November 6pm